An Appreciation; Efficiency and Criminal Justice

Date01 March 1986
DOI10.1177/000486588601900101
Published date01 March 1986
Subject MatterEditorial
AUST & NZ JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (March 1986) 19
(1-3)
~
1
EDITORIAL
An Appreciation
After four years as Editor of the
Australian
and
New
Zealand Journal of
Criminology,
Peter Sallmann has stepped down
. He will, however, continue as
Assistant Editor
. Peter Sallmann's contribution to the
Journal
must not go without
acknowledgement
. As Assistant Editor over the four years, and as a colleague who
worked with Peter in the same department at La Trobe University, I am in a good
position to assess the work he has put into the
Journal
and his achievements as
Editor
. The editorial task is not insubstantial
-
there are four issues of the
Journal
annually, at present three of them of 64 pages and one of 96 pages
. To this task
Peter has brought high levels of industry, knowledge, diplomacy and efficiency
. In
addition, everything was accomplished with grace, courtesy and a minimum of fuss
.
The success of his endeavours is to some extent reflected in the
Journal,
which has,
in my opinion, improved considerably in quality over the last few years . An editor
is, of course, to a large extent constrained by the quality of manuscript he receives
;
and as Peter stated in the December 1985 "Editorial", more and better articles are
being submitted for publication
.
Nevertheless, an editor by the selection of material, the use of referees and
suggestions for revision and improvement of articles can make a major contribution
to improving the standard of the Journal
. The growth in the quality of the
Journal
is in no small measure a reflection of Peter's contribution
. Fortunately, his
experience and skills will not be completely lost for he has agreed to remain as
Assistant Editor, in which position I have no doubt he will be exploited by the
current Editor . I thank Peter on my own behalf and on behalf of the Executive of
the
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology
and wish him every success
in his new position as a full-time Commissioner with the Victorian Law Reform
Commission
.
Efficiency and Criminal Justice
Efficiency is very much "in" these days, and efficiency experts or management
consultants are, it would appear, making a handsome living from advising people
on how to manage their activities in the most cost-efficient manner . And certainly
in the institutions and processes of criminal justice, there is room for considerable
increases in efficiency
. Thus, delays of many months in some jurisdictions beween
charging and committal and committal and trial are not only unfair to all concerned
-
defendant, victim, witnesses
-
but are deeply inefficient
: evidence deteriorates
;
memories fade
; exhibits get lost
; witnesses die
; defendants "get lost"
; and the trial
and sentence, if there is a conviction, often lose much of their impact
. These
problems of delay are well known to those concerned with criminal justice
administration and considerable efforts have already been made to address some of
the problems
.
The problems of delay, however, would seem to be much more than a matter of
inefficiency, although that is no doubt still a factor
. Many criminal trials are now
taking longer, apparently, because they are being much better run
. Mr Justice
Garvie of the Victorian Supreme Court comparing Victorian trial practices of today
with those of perhaps a quarter of a century ago has written
:

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